E34 540i Gearbox

[Sibby]

In search of a bit of luck does anyone know where I can get an E34 540i Auto gearbox and torque converter for reasonable money? Doesn't seem to be any joy on ebay at the minute.

Best price I've found so far is £1,250 from a breakers

[buggalugs]

Yowzer! you could by a couple of whole 540 auto's for that!

[sniff diesel]

Would a 740i one be the same? They're certainly more plentifull than 540i's.

I paid less than that for my E34 with a mere 128k on the clock.

[Sibby]

Good call!!

I think they are the same, will start digging around.

[cpl_payne]

Actually, according to this the ZF manufactured 5HP30 auto gearbox is also found in quite a few other BMW cars.

[sniff diesel]

Out of interest what would be required to convert an auto 540i to manual?

[eliot]

I've got a 5HP24 from a 2000 E39 540. Should be in the classifieds.

[val m5]

Hi guys, have a e34 535 sport laying down the yard. box in tip top nick. if thats any good to you. and yes its auto, not sure if it will swap. in an f reg.

[Sibby]

Don't think they'll fit unfortunately. Not even sure about box in 740i and 840i now.

I've had some silly quotes coming through for reconditioning. Think I'm going to have to sit tight till one comes along

If anyone knows of a 540i Auto going for spares I'd appreciate it! Seem to be ever rarer beasts.

[Fire99]

Sibby said:

Don't think they'll fit unfortunately. Not even sure about box in 740i and 840i now.

I've had some silly quotes coming through for reconditioning. Think I'm going to have to sit tight till one comes along

If anyone knows of a 540i Auto going for spares I'd appreciate it! Seem to be ever rarer beasts.

The engine you have was in
1993-1995 E34 540i
1992-1994 E32 740i
1994-1996 E38 740i
1992-1996 E31 840i

so the auto transmission from any of those should be just fine. I cannot imagine any significant differences in any of the above drivetrains.
You can't use the older E34 535i gearbox as that was an M30 engine which is quite different. Also, that was a 4 speed Auto where the 540i will have a 5 speed.

[sniff diesel]

Sibby said:

If anyone knows of a 540i Auto going for spares I'd appreciate it! Seem to be ever rarer beasts.

I could be tempted to convert mine to a manual - what's a 128,000 mile autobox worth?

[cpl_payne]

sniff diesel said:

Sibby said:

If anyone knows of a 540i Auto going for spares I'd appreciate it! Seem to be ever rarer beasts.

I could be tempted to convert mine to a manual - what's a 128,000 mile autobox worth?

Right, before you do that - have you seen how much the 6 speed manual boxes for this engine cost?

[sniff diesel]

cpl_payne said:

sniff diesel said:

Sibby said:

If anyone knows of a 540i Auto going for spares I'd appreciate it! Seem to be ever rarer beasts.

I could be tempted to convert mine to a manual - what's a 128,000 mile autobox worth?

Right, before you do that - have you seen how much the 6 speed manual boxes for this engine cost?

Just read this thread that Sibby sent me:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.ph...

Seems like a lot more work than I'd be prepared to do when my autobox is currently working fine, if mine was giving problems then I'd be tempted but knowing my luck I'd never get my car working again afterwards.

[cpl_payne]

sniff diesel said:

Seems like a lot more work than I'd be prepared to do when my autobox is currently working fine, if mine was giving problems then I'd be tempted but knowing my luck I'd never get my car working again afterwards.

Not only the amount of work involved, but the rarity and price of the 6 speed gearbox that manual 540i came with. A new gearbox costs more than value of the car if I understand everything correctly. There might be other manual boxes which would mate up to m60 but I can't say I've seen this info on the net.

ETA - supposedly the manual transmission from e34 M5 is the same as 540i (Getrag S6S 420G) so could be used for the swap.

Edited by cpl_payne on Wednesday 28th October 12:58

[sniff diesel]

£200 buy it now:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E38-7-Series-740-Automat...

[Sibby]

Nice find!

I've had a quick look at BMW part numbers and seems to be exactly the same. Anyone confirm it should fit?

I'm only being a little cautious as I've been caught out on diff's before when I had my E46's. Not a nice feeling.

[eliot]

Sibby said:

Nice find!

I've had a quick look at BMW part numbers and seems to be exactly the same. Anyone confirm it should fit?

I'm only being a little cautious as I've been caught out on diff's before when I had my E46's. Not a nice feeling.

If all the part numbers are the same (i.e the ZF and BMW part numbers on the green plate) then its identical:


The ZF part number on that plate is 1955 000015 and the BMW number is 1421564 I would want both of them to be the same as yours to be 100% certain of a match.

[Victor101]

cpl_payne said:

sniff diesel said:

ETA - supposedly the manual transmission from e34 M5 is the same as 540i (Getrag S6S 420G) so could be used for the swap.

Edited by cpl_payne on Wednesday 28th October 12:58

No it's not. Similar geartrain, but a different casing to fit the M30 based block the M5 has.

When fitting the autobox:

Stand the box on it's tail, lower the converter in and spin in until you see/hear it 'clunk' into position. This is the two 'ears' on the converter engaging with the oil pump drive. If you don't do this, you'll break the oil pump - scrap gearbox.
Also these boxes use syntetic oil and nothing else will do. Do not just fill it up with Dexron 11 or 111. The oil you need is Shell LA2634, 5.5 litres of it.

[rehmana49]

orite buddy av got a 1993 540i auto gearbox giv me a shout if ya wanna buy it cheers